One reason the housing market has been slow to recover is the massive glut of houses still available on the market. One reason there is a glut is because asking prices haven’t dropped as quickly as market values.

Forgive us for talking so much about good news lately, but after so many years of false starts, bad indicators, and ever-present dark clouds on the horizon, it feels good to be focusing in some persistent green shoots. So check out these bits of (record-setting) good news.

A pair of reporters from The Atlantic took off on a road trip recently, winding 2,000 miles across the South in search of America’s next Silicon Valleys — i.e. places where innovators, pioneers, doers, dreamers and job creators are most likely to succeed.

A hundred years ago, a handful of brave souls discovered that you could plop down a city on a mosquito-infested swamp and, apparently, spawn a deeply resilient housing market (even if a little bit prone to bubbles around the edges). We’ll explain.

The skyline in Austin never stopped morphing during the recession. Startups are flocking to the city, as well as hip heavyweights like Facebook and Google (who have both set up offices in Austin recently). Add in longtime employment hubs like Dell, plus employment anchors like the state government and the University of Texas (sources that are both stable and dynamic — meaning lots of people moving in and out, creating all sorts of real estate opportunities), and you’ve got a robust city determined to roll right through the recession.